I was born and raised in Florida and I love my state with every fiber of my being. I really couldn’t picture myself living in any other region other than Florida. However, there’s something about California that just feels right. Maybe it’s the grab bag of scenery from the granite domes and falls of Yosemite to the rolling hills of San Francisco. Maybe it’s the sunny beaches of San Diego to the Los Angeles skyscrapers that are covered in a blanket of smog. Maybe it’s the near perfect weather or the food. We can all agree that it is definitely not the LA traffic. But whatever it is, it just feels good.

DAY 5 – CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’

We woke up in San Luis Obispo at the crack of dawn and hit the road for Los Angeles. We arrived at Six Flags Magic Mountain shortly after opening, retrieved tickets, and entered the park. We spent a few hours inside riding the main attractions before our bodies demanded that we get food. I am personally not a fan at eating at theme parks and only do so when absolutely necessary. We had already researched a few must-try restaurants, so why not take the opportunity to cross another one off?

We pointed the silver bullet towards Pasadena where we would try an old fashioned burger staple called Pie’n Burger. We had a great lunch with quick service and continued with the itinerary of the day. Our next stop was The Rose Bowl, because what would be a stop in Pasadena without a visit to The Rose Bowl?

After leaving The Rose Bowl we drove towards downtown LA. where we would be staying for the night. By then, it was late afternoon and we wanted to get checked in and relax a little before dinner. After spending way too much on valet parking and brining our belongings to the room we enjoyed the gorgeous rooftop pool.

We did a quick change and prepared for a night out in Los Angeles beginning with a semi-formal dinner. We dined at a restaurant called Faith & Flower, a new American restaurant that featured a variety of shared plates. We had an excellent dining experience and squared away the check before exploring LA Live.

After all of the exciting events of the night, we weren’t ready for the night to end. We were in need of another Los Angeles adventure. Our options were slim seeing as to how it was almost midnight. Through pitching ideas that included a random visit to USC, somehow we conjured up the idea to try and drive to the Hollywood Sign for a photo.

This became quite the endeavor. Roads were closed to through traffic and opened to residents only, but we didn’t let that stop our quest to the sign. We maneuvered our way through the pitch dark winding roads of the Hollywood Hills dodging cars coming in all directions on blind corners and party-goers jumping out of Range Rovers strutting to mansions with bodyguards standing outside. It was obvious that we didn’t belong here. We made it as close to the sign as possible only to learn that it was simply too dark to accomplish our goal. We didn’t make the journey in vain though as we got to overlook the giant ball of light that is the city of Los Angles from above.

We made the downhill return journey through the same obstacles heading towards the Hollywood Walk of Fame next. Visiting this attraction this late at night was amazing because we got to be tourists without a million other tourists in our way. Basically, the only other people in the vicinity were homeless people, street vendors selling ten dollar t-shirts, and street performers even at almost 1 am.

If there is one thing in the world that we can all agree on, it would be a good donut. When we found a 24 hour donut shop on Yelp, we were ecstatic to go try them out. We indulged in a few SK Donuts inside of the small store before taking a dozen with us to the hotel. By then it was very late and there was no other logical thing to do but return to our hotel and turn in for the night.

DAY 6 – LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION

We were woken up to a view of the city of Los Angeles from our hotel room inviting us to come and explore. We took the SK Donuts from the last night’s adventure to the rooftop with a little coffee for breakfast before we started the day.

The first thing on the agenda was a visit to the Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank. To be honest, my expectations of this tour was pretty low. We had purchased a pass for attractions in Los Angeles and doing this tour was a way to help get our moneys worth. We hopped on a tram with an eccentric tour guide named Cole that came to Los Angeles hoping to make it as an actor. My expectations were quickly blown out of the water as we passed through the sets from our favorite shows and films along with hot sets from shows like Shameless and Fuller House. We even got to see Kaley Cuoco’s Mercedes SLS parked outside the Big Bang Theory soundstage. This was truly a killer experience. If you are even the slightest fan of motion pictures I would ten out of ten recommend this tour.

After the tour ended, we asked our tour guide for food recommendations in the area. He recommended what he said was George Clooney’s favorite steakhouse conveniently named “The Smokehouse” which was right in the vicinity of Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank. We had a great tri-tip sandwich and garlic bread (must have) before heading off to Beverly Hills.

Once we arrived in Beverly Hills, we parked our car on an adjacent street and walked towards the Rodeo Drive area. En route, a vehicle that happened to be a very nice white Porsche 911 GT3 RS was pointed out. As a car lover, that piqued my interest so I led us across the street to check it out. Parked behind it was a beautiful white Rolls Royce Wraith. But what was parked behind that is what was really special. In order-- a complete carbon fiber Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport valued at around $2.35 million, followed by a red Ferrari Enzo valued at $3 million, followed by McLaren P1 valued at around $1.6 million, followed by a Ferrari LaFerrari valued at minimum $2 million. Casually sat in the driveway in front of a hotel. Somehow we had stumbled upon the holy grail of supercars. To put this into perspective, less than 500 units of each of these models were ever produced!

But enough of me ranting about expensive rare cars. We soon after left the Beverly Hills area and drove to what would be our final destination, San Diego. We arrived late in San Diego so we checked in, grabbed some tacos, and slept for the night.

DAY 7 – THE SUN SETS OVER SUNSET CLIFFS

Our next day began with a great breakfast and coffee at The Mission, a hip latin-Americanesque restaurant near Mission Beach. A friend in our party, Matt, ordered the Vincent Vega. Coca-Cola and a shot of espresso. I’m sure it was as bad of an idea as it sounds. He liked it, so who am I to judge?

After breakfast, we rented bikes at a local shop that was in walking distance and explored the city. We cruised up and down the mesmerizing San Diego beaches on our beach cruisers in full tourist form trying not to thank about this being our last day in paradise. Now I know what you’re thinking, you’re from Florida, why would you want to go to another beach? It may just be another beach, but there is something about every beach that is different. The sand, the scenery, the people. Not all beaches are created equal.

Our lunch consisted of, you guessed it…more tacos! But when you’re that close to Mexico, lunch options are a no-brainer. We ate phenomenal authentic Mexican tacos as Matt indulged in his fifth California Burrito (I lost count).

Before the trip, we found an area of cliffs that was apparently a popular location for jumping off of. It was about a 7 mile bike ride away, but all that was on our agenda for the day was biking around so we decided to go. We arrived at Sunset Cliffs to a crowd of people, all of which had the same idea as us. There were signs expressing that jumping was illegal and warning of the danger, but it was clear that they were ignored. There were two primary places that people were jumping from. One that was higher with less room for error and one that was around twenty feet high with a bigger landing area. We will neither confirm nor deny what happened next.

We made the 7 mile return journey to return the bikes, made it back to the roadtripmobile and hit the highway for the airport. This was it. Our journey was over. The sun was setting over the trip of a lifetime. We returned our rental car and in a couple short hours we would be in the air on a red eye flight back to Florida. The feeling was disappointing for sure, but we couldn’t be upset with all of the great memories that were made in the past week. Our first big adventure was a success. We jumped head first in to an expedition clear across the country on our own and had the time of our lives. This may have been our first major adventure together, but we knew that it wasn’t going to be our last.

Thank you California for everything you provided and introducing us to our addiction for The Prime Adventure Lifestyle.